


Coming Apart

by Whorls (Sengachi)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora's cis/trans status is not specificied, Angst and Porn, Biting, Blindfolds, Bruises, F/F, Hickies, Light Bondage, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Smut, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Writing on the Body, cis!Catra, no orgasms happen in this fic - fair warning, there are two versions of this story with either cis or trans non-op Catra, trans!Catra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-22 17:26:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17666912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sengachi/pseuds/Whorls
Summary: Adora wants to show Catra how much she loves her.Note: There are two versions of this story, one in which Catra is cis and one in which she is trans and non-op. Both versions of the story are almost identical, regardless of which you pick to read you will be getting the same experience.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the version of the story in which Catra is cis.

****Adora welcomes Catra home with a kiss, planting a hard kiss on her before Catra’s even finished closing the door. Catra smiles into the kiss and nips Adora on her bottom lip before pulling back. “Hey gorgeous,” she asks, “what was that for?”

Her girlfriend smiles back and wraps her arms around Catra’s waist. “What, I can’t just kiss you because I want to?”

“I mean, duh, of course you can. But-” Catra smirks, “I know you. That wasn’t just a welcome home kiss. And this-” she grabs Adora’s hips where they’re pressed up against her own and presses her own hips in even closer, “definitely isn’t just a welcome home hug. So tell me Adora, what’s up with that?”

This is normally when Adora would blush and say something sappy about missing her that really means ‘fuck me until I can’t stand’. Or at least that’s what Catra would interpret it as. It’s not like Adora ever complains. But tonight Adora does something a little different. She draws up to her full height, just a shade taller than Catra, and looks her straight in the eyes. She draws in a deep breath -Catra purrs at the feeling of their bodies pressed that much closer together- and tells Catra, “I want to do something new tonight.”

“Oh?” This is already new. Adora’s always more than willing to go along with whatever kinky ideas Catra brings home but this is the first time Adora’s been the one to propose something. Catra _grins_ . This has the potential to be _good_. “Tell me more.”

“Well it starts with us going to the bedroom and making out. How does that sound?”

Catra raises an eyebrow. “A decent start, but you’re going to have to do more than that to impress me.”

Adora leans in and kisses Catra, absolutely every inch of their bodies pressed together. She licks Catra’s lips and for a moment Catra is tempted to frustrate her. She could keep her mouth shut tight and listen to Adora whine at being denied. But no, this is Adora’s night. It’d be cruel to toy with her the very first time she takes charge in this way. So Catra opens her mouth and lets her deepen their kiss.

The kiss is nice. Soft and sweet. Adora’s lips play at catching Catra’s and their tongues meet in the middle. They’re both smiling now, lips twitching in pleased little motions as they enjoy one another. Catra runs her hands over Adora’s rear, liking how her girlfriend feels pressed against her.

Then Adora changes the game. She shifts a leg out so it’s next to Catra and just a bit behind her and all of a sudden Catra’s balance is gone. She’ll tip over backward if Adora lets go of her, but Adora doesn’t. She buries her hand in Catra’s mane of hair and grabs a fistful right at the back of her scalp, pinning her in place. “Mm-m!” Catra starts to moan but breaks off into a yelp when Adora pulls on her head, tilting her further back. And then Adora is kissing her again, really _kissing_ her, and there’s nothing Catra can do but clutch at Adora’s shirt and kiss her back.

Adora bites her lips and nips at Catra’s tongue when it slips into her mouth. She pushes forward with her own tongue until Catra finds herself on the back foot, reacting to everything Adora does. She sighs into Adora’s mouth and lets herself be swept away by the insistent way Adora claims her mouth and pulls her hair and- _!!!_ Adora grabs one of Catra’s nipples through her shirt with her free hand and pinches and _pulls_ and the sudden burst of pain snaps Catra’s eyes wide open. Her girlfriend lets go a moment later and the pain stops, but her nipple is fucking throbbing now and she’s so, so damn aware of it.

Her girlfriend pinches her other nipple and Catra fists her hands in her shirt. Fuck, that hurts! But then the moment’s passed and her nipples are fucking on fire and that throbbing has settled in her groin and she’s pushing her hips forward looking for any friction at all and she’s let her jaw go slack and Adora’s just enjoying herself with her mouth and she’s moaning in the back of her throat and-

Adora pulls back. She gives Catra just enough space to stand on her own (and too much space for that fucking throbbing between her legs) and loosens her grip in Catra’s hair. She doesn’t let go though. She cradles Catra’s head, pulling their foreheads together. She meets Catra’s eyes from inches away and asks, “So? Bedroom?”

Yes. Fuck _yes_.

The look on her face must be something because Adora lets out a delighted laugh. “Alright, let’s get you on the bed you horny devil. C’mon.” Adora grabs Catra’s hand and pulls her to the bedroom, smiling and shooting glances back at Catra as they go. Catra smiles back and eagerly follows Adora. It’s not like this is the first time Adora’s been in control, Catra’s used to how domineering she can get. But she’s normally not the instigator and she _never_ moves this fast without Catra pushing her. Catra couldn’t be more excited to see what comes next.

As it turns out, what comes next is exactly what Adora said it would be. Making out in the bedroom.

Adora lays Catra out on the bed and crawls over her, glowing with an open-mouthed smile and clearly pleased as punch to have Catra at her mercy. Catra gladly obliges her, throwing her hands up behind her head and stretching out beneath her. She wiggles her hips and lets out a little mewl too, just for show.

Adora laughs and runs her hands up Catra’s arms, interlacing her fingers with Catra’s and shifting her weight to pin them down. She dips down to catch Catra’s lips, just a short kiss before she pulls back and looks Catra in the eyes again. “Hey, Catra. You know I love you, right?”

Catra laughs. “Of course I do dummy! Now c’mon, I was promised makeouts!”

A smile flickers over her girlfriend’s face and then Adora is back on top of her, making good on her promise. She slips her tongue inside Catra’s mouth all forceful and insistent and then she pulls back, teasing Catra into leaning up off the bed and following Adora up into the air. They linger in that position with Adora teasing and leading and demanding and Catra doing her best to sate her hunger on what Adora will give her. Catra tries to retreat a few times and draw Adora down to a level where she has more control but each time Adora refuses her, biting her lower lip and pulling her back into their kiss.

When Adora finally does let her go Catra is panting and riding the knife’s edge between languidly loose and wound up tight. Adora places a trail of soft kisses from her lips across her jaw to that place just beneath her ear where- _oohhhh_ . Adora nibbles and suckles and fucking _smiles_ against the side of her neck and it’s not fair. Catra twists and turns and that forces Adora to actually use her weight to keep Catra’s arms above her head and that right there, Adora’s weight pressing down on her and her teeth nipping at the muscle in her neck, it’s too much. She _whines_ , a high-pitched “nnnnnnnn” rising in the back of her throat, and then she _begs_ , “please, Adora please, cmooooonnnnnn-”

Her girlfriend adjusts her grip so she’s holding Catra’s wrists by her head, more securely than she was before. She settles her weight firmly on Catra’s pelvis so she can’t buck her hips, only squirm. Then she leans in close, nipping Catra’s ear. “What do you want?”

_“Bite me.”_

Adora moves her lips to the hollow of Catra’s neck, just above her collarbone where a tendon stands out taut and tight. And then she _bites_ . She sinks her teeth into soft flesh in Catra’s neck and when she pulls back she catches the tips of her teeth on the rigid line of that tendon and Catra just melts _._ So much sensation is radiating out from where Adora’s teeth are hooked into her. Her whole neck is tingling with it, she can barely think.

And Adora just keeps _going_ . She bites into the same spot again and sucks, harder and harder until Catra hisses and jerks, and then she does it _again!_ The hollow of Catra’s neck is a mass of forming bruises before Adora moves on to the junction of her shoulder. And then Adora sinks her teeth into the flesh there! Catra whines and twitches her hips feebly against Adora’s weight. Her eyes flutter shut and she floats on the too-much-too-rough feelings.

Time drifts around her. She’s not sure how long she spends beneath Adora getting her neck ravaged. But it feels _good_. She drifts on washes of pleasure and jerks every time Adora snags her skin between the tips of her teeth. Eventually she can’t even whine anymore, her moans disintegrating into pathetic mewls and whimpers.

Adora bites her one last time and draws a final convulsive jerk out of Catra before she pulls back. She lets go of Catra’s arms and rises up with a satisfied smirk on her face. “Have fun babe?”

Catra rises up after her, sitting up and letting her arms settle around her girlfriend’s torso. She nuzzles Adora’s neck blearily, parting her teeth just a hair so she can nip Adora back and start returning the favor. But Adora pulls away again, casually threading a hand through Catra’s hair and pulling her away. “Ah, ah, ah,” she admonishes. “I’m doing this for you tonight. You can dig into me tomorrow.”

Catra murmurs a bleary assent, not nearly put together enough to argue. She feels Adora shiver beneath her lips as she does, still reacting to Catra’s touch even if she’s taking charge.

Her girlfriend shakes the shivers off and gently pushes Catra back down on the bed. “Okay,” she says, “we need undress. I don’t know about you but I am way too hot and bothered to have all my clothes on.”

Catra fumbles frantically with the hem of her shirt while Adora starts slowly unbuttoning her own. Catra is naked in moments, desperately yanking her shirt over her head and bridging her hips to push Adora’s weight off her so she can skin off her jeans and panties in one motion.

Adora blinks down at her, fingers pausing on her fourth button. “... that was quick.”

Catra huffs out a delirious laugh. Of course it was quick. What does Adora think she’s been doing to her?   

Above her Adora pauses, biting the tip of her tongue and giving Catra a _look_.

That’s enough to clear some of the fuzz in Catra’s head and she immediately nips whatever thoughts Adora might be having in the bud. “Noooo, no no no. You don’t get to touch me like that and then tease me. Get your dang shirt off and touch me.”

Adora straight up laughs at that and does what Catra says. She unbuttons her shirt and shucks it and then reaches around behind her back to unhook her bra. She throws it off the bed and smiles down at Catra.

Catra takes in the sight of her girlfriend hovering over her half-naked and decides to just skip straight past waiting for Adora to finish undressing. She shoves a hand between them and _grinds_ the heel of her hand into her mound. Her eyes flutter and her hips buck. She does it again and meets Adora’s eyes as the friction makes her groan.

“Hey! Don’t get too far ahead of me,” Adora tells her playfully.

Catra rubs her hand down across her groin in a long motion, grinding her heel and then her wrist all the way across her clit. She plays up her moan and rolls her stomach with the motion, giving Adora her best can’t-think-straight look. “Then get your pants -nnn- off.” She makes sure to gasp the last word.

That’s more than enough to kick her girlfriend’s ass into gear, and a few excited clumsy seconds later Adora is sitting on Catra’s pelvis, bare skin against skin. The heat burning from Adora’s crotch sinks into the skin just above Catra’s clit and Adora’s weight presses them together and- Catra hums and rolls her hips and she’s not playing anything up now.

Adora leans down, pressing their chests together, and the lack of any distance between them is everything. She lets a breath out and Catra can feel the eddies of it tickling her kiss-plumped lips. Adora tilts her head to lock lips with Catra and Catra slips effortlessly back into that blissed-out state where what she’s feeling is too large for her body. Adora’s tongue is in her mouth and her hands are drifting up Catra’s sides and Adora’s breasts are pressing into her and there’s so much heat between them.

It’s perfect.

Tingles follow Adora’s hands up her sides and then up her neck as Adora pulls back from their kiss and trails the backs of her nails across the soft, bruised skin under Catra’s chin. She follows her nails with kisses and then with her tongue sliding slick and wet over skin that’s too sensitive for any more bites (but Catra could take it anyway, she _could_ ). Adora’s tongue traces its way down to Catra’s collarbone and then she kisses the rest of the way to Catra’s breasts. She slides her hands under Catra’s back, pinning them between Catra’s weight and the bed, and she hovers just over her panting partner’s chest.

Adora’s eyes flick up to Catra’s face for a moment, taking her measure, and then she dips down to gently take a nipple in her mouth. Her lips make a slick circle on the skin of Catra’s breast and her tongue pushes against her nipple, giving Catra pressure and wetness and warmth. Adora takes her time, pushing her nipple back and forth, playing with it ways that don’t come with a zing of pleasure but have Catra purring and linking her arms at the small of Adora’s back nonetheless.

Adora switches breasts, pulling one hand out from under Catra to give her freed nipple a little tweak, something to put a hitch in Catra’s breath. Adora curls the hand still under Catra, scratching her back. Catra’s breath hitches again and that’s when Adora gives the first hint of teeth. She sucks on Catra’s nipple, mostly with her lips but also just barely gripping it in her teeth.

It’s good, but it’s also not quite enough. “More.”

Her girlfriend smiles around her nipple, and then her nails are dragging down Catra’s back and she _bites_ and the shock of it ripples through Catra’s bliss. Adora worries Catra’s nipple in her teeth and then she grabs her other nipple in her nails and _pulls_ and it’s exactly what Catra needed. She pants and thrusts her chest up and she _wants_ and Adora delivers. She bites and pinches and pulls and twists and Catra’s whole world is the spikes of pleasure coming from her breasts. There’s hurt in the moments when Adora bites too hard and ache in the moments when she’s not touching them at all, but through it all the too-much-too-rough pleasure washes through her.

It’s so much. She twitches with it and rolls and moans and whimpers, “yes, there, more, harder, _harder_ ,” and fuck does Adora deliver. Catra sinks her nails into the small of Adora’s back as it becomes actually too much, as the hurt starts to actually hurt, but she doesn’t tell Adora to stop. She bites her lip and bears it, pushing through and through and through despite the pain because it feels so good she doesn’t want it to stop.

Her breath shudders through trembling lips and she buries her hands in the sheets to desperately knead the bed and she whines through the pain but eventually she can’t bear any more. She gasps out, “Stop! Stop.” Adora lets go, pulling back with a lazy smile on her face while Catra gulps air.

Adora pushes off the bed. “Wait here,” she says. Catra trembles, the cold air in Adora’s absence highlighting just how much Catra’s nipples ache.

Adora’s only gone for a few moments when she comes back, kneeling on the edge of the bed. “Here,” she tells Catra, “we’re going to need these.” She dangles a pair of red silk ribbons in her hand.

Catra huffs. “We’ve,” she swallows, “definitely used those before.”

She gets a soft smile in return. “I promise you Catra, this will be new. Now c’mon, get up. I need to position you.”

Catra raises an eyebrow but does as Adora asks, sitting up on the edge of the bed. She hunches over a bit to protect her sensitive nipples from the air, and rests a palm over the pulse beating through her bruised neck. She focuses her vision as best she can.

There, at the foot of the bed, is a pad of folded towels laid out on the floor. Catra didn’t notice them coming in, but in her defense she was kind of preoccupied. Just beyond the towels is their closet door, a full-length mirror embedded in its frame. Catra turns to give her girlfriend a questioning look, wondering just where Adora’s going with this.

Adora grins. “You’re going to kneel on the towels, facing the mirror.”

Catra perks up. Oh? That’s a good start. She gets up on shaky legs and wobbles over to the towels, dropping down with a heavy thump on her knees. She sits up and places both hands at the small of her back, already guessing what her girlfriend wants to do with those ribbons.

She’s right. Adora bites the tip of her tongue and smiles. “Yeah, just like that.” She settles behind Catra, taking her wrists in her hands. “This isn’t going to be a bondage scene or anything, so no safeword. If you need me to let you out just tell me, okay?”

Catra nods, looking back over her shoulder to meet Adora’s eyes. “Okay.”

“Good.” Adora gives Catra a peck on the cheek and gets to work. She slips one of the silk ribbons around Catra’s wrists in broad flat loops, not binding her wrists in a knot so much as wrapping them in a support that takes the thought and strain out of holding her arms behind her back. Adora places settles her hands on the curve of Catra’s waist when she’s done, pressing up against her back. “Is that alright? Do you need me to adjust it?”

Catra shakes her head no.

“And when I do this?” Adora slides close, wrapping her arms around Catra’s torso and pressing her whole body flush against Catra’s back and pinning Catra’s wrists with her body. “Does that twist your arms in a bad way?”

Catra shivers pleasantly. “No. That’s-” she can feel the hard muscle of Adora’s abs under soft skin pressing against the underside of her arms and that should not be as hot as it is but it really _is_ , “-fine.”

“Mm,” Adora hums against her. “Good. Now, this next part is what I wanted to try tonight. You ready?”

Abso-fucking- _lutely_.

Adora picks up the other silk ribbon and dangles it in front of her. “Alright Catra. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to blindfold you with this. Then I’m going to take this-” she picks up a marker from where it was hidden under the bed, “-and I’m going to write all kinds of stuff on you. About you. You’ll only get to see what I’ve written when I decide I’m done and I take off the blindfold.”

Oh. Catra can already think of all the kinky stuff that Adora could-

“And. Two more things. I’m going to play with you while I do. Partly because I want to keep you too occupied to guess what I’m writing until the blindfold comes off, but mostly because I just want to touch you.”

Catra smirks. Of course Adora wants touch her.

“Lastly though,” and Adora hesitates, “this is permanent marker. I have a washable one if you’d rather I use that but … I … I want to leave a mark on you. Something that you’ll wear under your clothes for the next few days. So that I’ll know, and you’ll know, what’s on your skin. So that you have to see it every time you take your clothes off.”

“Are you okay with that?”

Catra stares into the mirror. She’s already wrecked. She’s covered in bruises from shoulder to chin. Half-circles of angry red teeth marks dot her flesh. Anyone looking at her tomorrow will be able to see what Adora has done to her. Except they won’t see her nipples. Puffy and swollen and surrounded by mottled shadows of bruises. They won’t see all the other marks Adora is bound to leave on her before the night is done. And if Adora marks her up they won’t see that either.

Her girlfriend’s never been one for any kind of degradation play. Always says it makes her feel gross. But if she’s finally developed a taste for it ... Catra imagines **_SLUT_ ** written across her stomach in big bold letters. Knowing it’s there even as no one else does. Knowing that _Adora_ will know when she looks at her. Stripping down for bed and Adora staring at it and touching her and-

“Catra? Are you okay with that?”

“Yesssss.” Catra hisses out her answer. She’s so aroused it hurts. Her lower lips _throb_ and she fucking needs Adora to touch her. “Please.”

The last thing she sees is Adora licking her lips as her girlfriend slips the blindfold over her eyes.

There’s a moment of stillness. Then Adora’s fingers ghost across her mouth. Catra hungrily opens her mouth and they plunge inside. Adora doesn’t stick her fingers inside Catra’s mouth to be sucked on though. She explores Catra’s mouth instead, grabbing Catra’s tongue and running fingers over the roof of her mouth and the jagged edges of her teeth. It’s more possessive than it is erotic and Catra almost doesn’t know what to think about it.

When Adora leans down and mouths her neck though, scraping teeth across tender bites marks, she knows what she thinks about that. She thinks Adora is a goddamn _tease_ . She didn’t let herself get tied up and blindfolded at Adora’s mercy to be handled gently. She’s here to be _ravaged_.

Catra growls around the fingers invading her mouth and flexes her hands behind her back, catching the tips of her nails on Adora’s stomach. She tilts her head to give Adora better access and Adora finally does what she’s supposed to and bites down. She pulls her wet, messy fingers out of Catra’s mouth and slides them down the other side of Catra’s neck, and the sensitive bruised skin being slicked up and exposed to the open air is a perfect counterpoint to the moment when Adora really sinks her teeth in.

Catra might as well be blind whenever Adora has a go at her neck. Her eyes flutter and unfocus and she can’t pay attention to what she’s seeing anyway. It’s just blurs and colors and not being able to remember afterward if her eyes were open or not. But it’s different with an actual blindfold on. She’s _aware_ that she can’t see anything, not just blurrily disconnected from her vision. It makes everything else sharper, like that clear-cut awareness she can’t see is bleeding into her other senses too. She can feel each Adora’s teeth snagging the soft skin over her pulse point and she loves every moment of it.

Fingers pinch her nipples but they’re still too sensitive. She yelps and Adora backs off. A moment later Adora pulls back from her neck too, and then steps away. Catra is left alone with little shivers running through her body, panting. She’s got so much _need_ running through her. She wriggles when she feels Adora settle back down in front of her, parts her lips, tilts her head back, and thrusts out her chest so Adora can play with any part of her.

A hand buries itself in her hair and then Adora is pulling her forward and kissing her like she can’t get enough, with long sweeps of her tongue against Catra’s lips and inside her mouth. Catra’s lips tingle as she returns the kiss. It’s easy to get drunk kissing Adora, even more so when there’s nothing she can do but kiss Adora.

Then Adora whispers into her lips, “One moment, love,” and pulls back. She tightens her hold in Catra’s mane and pulls her head back. Catra gasps. There’s a **_pop_ ** of a marker cap being removed and then the wet-dry feeling of a marker on her skin. Adora scrawls something across Catra’s chest just above her breasts. “There,” she says with satisfaction, “perfect.”

Catra doesn’t even have time to react to that before Adora pulls her in and kisses her again.

And that’s how it goes. Occasionally Adora will touch her with the hand holding the marker, caressing her rear or tweaking her nipples. But mostly Adora just kisses her, keeping Catra drunk on her lips. She steals moments away to write on Catra’s stomach and her breasts, her sides and her arms, but she always brings Catra back to their kiss. She kisses her and writes on her and kisses her again.

It goes on and on and on. Catra’s jaw aches. Her tongue is tired. Her body is sore and her limbs are dead. When Adora finally stops Catra is exhausted, breathing as heavy as if she’d just finished a fight. She’s so exhausted almost doesn’t want Adora to touch the throbbing between her legs anymore. An orgasm at this point would take too much out of her.

Adora slumps against her, forehead to forehead and hands resting on Catra’s shoulders, just as worn out as her partner. This close Catra can feel Adora’s labored breathing. Eventually Adora speaks, “I- I’m going to take the blindfold off, okay? And, when you see what I wrote, tell me what you think. Okay?”

Catra nods. Yeah, she can do that.

Adora takes off her blindfold. Catra blinks away the light and opens her eyes. Catra still can’t see herself in the mirror, Adora is right in front of her. But she can see Adora’s soft blue eyes and her face reflected in them. She can see Adora’s lips, swollen by kissing. And she can see that gentle look on Adora’s face, the one Adora uses when she tells Catra ‘I love you’ as earnestly as she can, that Catra never knows how to respond to.

Adora places a kiss softly on her lips and smiles in a way that’s so soft it almost seems sad. Then, gently, she tells Catra, “I love you.”

Yeah. Just like that.

Catra swallows to clear her throat and tries out a laugh, voice raspy and tight. “Hey dummy, move your head. What’s the point of this if I can’t see what you wrote?”

When Adora moves it’s with that same gentleness, as if she didn’t just spend the last who-knows-how-long tearing Catra to pieces. She shifts behind Catra and lays against her back, pinning Catra’s hands between them again. She rests her hands on Catra’s shoulders and asks, “So, tell me what you think?”

**_Loved_ **

That’s the first word Catra sees, written big and bold across her chest just above her breasts, where the whole world could see it if she wore a low-cut top.

“Wha-” she doesn’t understand what she’s looking at for a moment. She turns her head as if to look back at Adora, but she can’t take her eyes off of what she see in the mirror.

**_Witty_ **

**_Gorgeous_ **

**_Strong_ **

Written across her left hip, on her right upper arm, and under her left breast are words she wasn’t expecting to see. There’s no bite to them. Not ‘slut’ or ‘bitch’ or ‘brat’ or ‘broken’, but ‘gorgeous’. And … ‘witty’. Catra was expecting Adora to put her in her place. She doesn’t know where this puts her.

Adora smiles nervously in the mirror. “I just-” she begins. She swallows and presses herself closer against Catra’s back, hunching her shoulders in. “I just thought- You brush it off when I tell you I love you, a lot of the time. Like, when you say it back I know you mean it. But sometimes I worry that you don’t let it mean something when I say it to you. So I wanted to give you this. As a reminder. That you really are loved.”

Catra hackles go up. “What?” she says sharply. She shakes herself, exhaustion falling off of her as she finds indignation. “You think I have some kind of problem? That I need you to tell me that I’m alright?”

There’s worry in Adora’s eyes now and Catra likes that better than her softness, than her _pity_. “What, no, I-”

Catra shoulders her girlfriend back. “Save it! I didn’t need this, now just-”

**_Cherished_ **

Catra spots it written under her left breast right over her heart and her voice catches, “-just, just …” She swallows and her throat doesn’t feel right. “Get this off me!” She jerks at the ribbon holding her wrists. “Let me go!” she shouts.  

Her girlfriend fumbles at it as fast as she can and a moment later Catra is free. She shoots up to her feet, lunging forward and leaving Adora sitting on the floor behind her.

“Catra…”

“You fucked up!” she repeats. “I- I-,” she firms her resolve without looking back, “I’m going to take a bath. Get to sleep, don’t wait up for me.” She doesn’t wait for Adora to respond. She strides straight out of their bedroom and into their bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Dammit! Why did Adora have to do that? Why did she have to turn that into some kind of fucking fake-ass pity party for her? Fuck, sure it would have been a little bit fake if Adora had written ‘slut’ all across her breasts, but at least she would have known that it meant Adora wanted to fuck her, which is actually true. Instead Adora had just written a whole bunch of crap she thought would make Catra ‘feel better’.

Catra stomps up to the bathroom mirror. What the fuck other bullshit did Adora put on her? What did she …?

 **_Sexy_ ** and **_Fierce_ **, on her thighs.

 ** _Hot Blooded_** on her stomach.

 **_Amazing_ ** on her right side.

And then there’s a set of black dots ringing her nipple made to look like bite marks. That’s not … that’s not …

That’s not bullshit. That’s not something Adora made up for some dumbass pity therapy. Which means the rest of it-

Catra’s mood crashes through the floor. She goes from buoyed up by frustration and anger to hollowed out and feeling every pound of her exhaustion in an instant.

The rest of it isn’t bullshit either. Adora just told her she loved her, wrote it on her skin, and Catra told her to fuck off. Like some kind of dick. Adora told her she was witty and strong and sexy and Catra _yelled at her_. She yelled at her!  

Catra slumps against the bathroom counter. Fuck. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ,” Catra swears. “Dammit.” She takes a long look at what her girlfriend wrote on her. **_Loved_ **, right there on her chest. “I’m an asshole,” she mutters.

“But I’m the asshole who has to fix it.”

Catra staggers when she leaves the bathroom. Without angry adrenaline as fuel her legs are tired jelly. Emotional whiplash has drained whatever she had left after making out with Adora. But she keeps her footing and manages to stand straight when she re-enters their bedroom. Adora deserves an unflinching apology, not something whispered out behind cringes and stammers.

Except all that flies out of her head the moment she actually sees Adora. Her girlfriend is hunched against the foot of the bed and she’s _crying_. Instantly Catra races over and drops to her knees in front of Adora. Tears prick the corners of her own eyes. It’s hard not to cry when she sees Adora crying.

“Oh no, shhhh, no no no, Adora I’m sorry.” Catra cups Adora’s face in her hands and wipes at the tears with her thumbs. “I’m so sorry. You did nothing wrong. I fucked up, I’m an asshole Adora, I’m sorry.”

Adora hiccups and stammers out around sobs, “When you m- make your partner run- run off, and hurt them, I don’t- don’t think anyone can s- say that you did nothing wrong.”

Catra opens her mouth to respond, “That’s-” actually a very good point. Lovemaking doesn’t typically end with your partner running off unless you’ve really fucked up. But then again she- No. Catra shelves the whole train of thought. Adora is crying. That’s more important right now. Everything else can wait for the morning. “Adora,” she says firmly, “look at me.”

Adora does, and it just about breaks her heart to see Adora looking up at her while crying like that.

“We can talk about all that stuff in the morning. It can wait, and right now is a shit time to hash that stuff out. I-” Catra thinks about what she wants to say for a moment. “I’m wiped out. I’m gonna crash in like, a minute. But that’s alright. None of this has to be worked out right now. Because-” Catra takes a deep breath. This isn’t something she’s good at, it’s not something she knows how to do, so she just does her best impression of Adora’s soft expression and hopes for the best. “I love you Adora. And I know you love me. I _know_ you love me. A lot.” She takes a hand away from Adora’s face to gesture at the **_Loved_ ** written on her chest.

“And we’ve got to talk about this, I know that. I … didn’t react well. At all. I’ve got some … problems, that we should talk about. And we should also probably talk about how the way you tried to, uh, bring that up I guess, how it didn’t work. And why it didn’t work. And maybe we’ll decide it’s your fault or maybe it’s ‘cus of my stupid brain. Or both.”

She’s rambling now, but Adora isn’t sobbing anymore at least. She doesn’t know what that look on Adora’s face _is_ , but at least there aren’t any tears now. “Like, we’ve been through worse. I’ve … done worse. A lot worse. But somehow you still love me. A lot. Enough to do … this. Even though I’m the kind of dumbass who’d fuck it all up. And I love you because I’d have to be an idiot to let that go, no matter how dumb and upset I get. You know that, right?”

Adora gives a tired nod and slumps forward against Catra’s chest, resting her cheek on her partner’s breast. “I know,” she says quietly, “but … I told myself I was doing it for you. ‘n I was lying. I’m selfish. I didn’t want you to feel loved, I wanted to be able to make you feel loved. It wasn’t- I wasn’t really thinking about you. Not all the way. ‘m sorry.” She sniffles and Catra feels her swallow another sob.

Frankly Catra isn’t sure what that means. At all. But that’s what tomorrow is for. “Okay. Alright Adora.” She shifts her hand on Adora’s cheek so she’s holding Adora’s head against her chest. “We can talk about this in the morning, okay?”

Her girlfriend nods against her chest. “Okay.”

They sit there for long silent minutes.

 

\---

 

Catra wakes up with Adora leaning over her. “Oh. Hey. Morning Adora.”

“Hey.” Her girlfriend bends down and gives her a quick pick on the lips. There’s no morning breath there, so she must have been up at least long enough to brush her teeth. Adora gives Catra a moment to orient herself before asking, “We never ended up having dinner last night, so would you mind if we make breakfast before having that talk?”

“About…” Catra’s brain takes a moment to reboot, “-last night? Sure.” Catra yawns. “Just give me time to take a shower. You wanna start breakfast? I’ll catch up with you.”

Adora nods, a quick smile flashing across her face. “Sure.”

Catra is careful not to scrub her marks too hard in the shower. However they decide they feel about last night, that would be sending the wrong message. Although … that thought brings a smirk to her face. There is another message she could send.

Once she’s done with her shower she pads up behind her girlfriend in the kitchen. “Hey Adora.”

“Hey Catraaaaaa….” Adora turns around and trails off. “... why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“‘Cus I’m considering getting nipple piercings and I want to get your opinion on how they’d look.”

Her girlfriend sputters out a cough. “What?”

“Well I mean, yes I am thinking about that. It’d be hot. But that’s not actually why I’m topless. Adora I’m loved,” she touches her chest, “and cherished,” she touches her heart, “by you. ‘n I want to show that off. ‘Cus I’m kind of selfish and I feel good about having a girlfriend who loves me so much. ‘Cus that’s a good place to start our talk about this whole mess. And,” Catra smirks and hooks her thumbs in her jeans, skinning them down just far enough to show off the marks on her thighs, “‘cus I’m fierce and sexy and I know it.”

Adora’s face softens into that gentle look. That loving look. “Hey, Catra. You know I love you, right?”

Catra smiles. Her voice cracks just a bit as she replies, “Yeah, I know.”

Adora reaches out and pulls her into a tight hug. “Good.”

“Hey Adora?”

“Mm?”

“I love you too.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the version of the story in which Catra is non-op trans (i.e. she has a penis).

****Adora welcomes Catra home with a kiss, planting a hard kiss on her before Catra’s even finished closing the door. Catra smiles into the kiss and nips Adora on her bottom lip before pulling back. “Hey gorgeous,” she asks, “what was that for?”

Her girlfriend smiles back and wraps her arms around Catra’s waist. “What, I can’t just kiss you because I want to?”

“I mean, duh, of course you can. But-” Catra smirks, “I know you. That wasn’t just a welcome home kiss. And this-” she grabs Adora’s hips where they’re pressed up against her own and presses her own hips in even closer, “definitely isn’t just a welcome home hug. So tell me Adora, what’s up with that?”

This is normally when Adora would blush and say something sappy about missing her that really means ‘fuck me until I can’t stand’. Or at least that’s what Catra would interpret it as. It’s not like Adora ever complains. But tonight Adora does something a little different. She draws up to her full height, just a shade taller than Catra, and looks her straight in the eyes. She draws in a deep breath -Catra purrs at the feeling of their bodies pressed that much closer together- and tells Catra, “I want to do something new tonight.”

“Oh?” This is already new. Adora’s always more than willing to go along with whatever kinky ideas Catra brings home but this is the first time Adora’s been the one to propose something. Catra _grins_ . This has the potential to be _good_. “Tell me more.”

“Well it starts with us going to the bedroom and making out. How does that sound?”

Catra raises an eyebrow. “A decent start, but you’re going to have to do more than that to impress me.”

Adora leans in and kisses Catra, absolutely every inch of their bodies pressed together. She licks Catra’s lips and for a moment Catra is tempted to frustrate her. She could keep her mouth shut tight and listen to Adora whine at being denied. But no, this is Adora’s night. It’d be cruel to toy with her the very first time she takes charge in this way. So Catra opens her mouth and lets her deepen their kiss.

The kiss is nice. Soft and sweet. Adora’s lips play at catching Catra’s and their tongues meet in the middle. They’re both smiling now, lips twitching in pleased little motions as they enjoy one another. Catra runs her hands over Adora’s rear, liking how her girlfriend feels pressed against her.

Then Adora changes the game. She shifts a leg out so it’s next to Catra and just a bit behind her and all of a sudden Catra’s balance is gone. She’ll tip over backward if Adora lets go of her, but Adora doesn’t. She buries her hand in Catra’s mane of hair and grabs a fistful right at the back of her scalp, pinning her in place. “Mm-m!” Catra starts to moan but breaks off into a yelp when Adora pulls on her head, tilting her further back. And then Adora is kissing her again, really _kissing_ her, and there’s nothing Catra can do but clutch at Adora’s shirt and kiss her back.

Adora bites her lips and nips at Catra’s tongue when it slips into her mouth. She pushes forward with her own tongue until Catra finds herself on the back foot, reacting to everything Adora does. She sighs into Adora’s mouth and lets herself be swept away by the insistent way Adora claims her mouth and pulls her hair and- _!!!_ Adora grabs one of Catra’s nipples through her shirt with her free hand and pinches and _pulls_ and the sudden burst of pain snaps Catra’s eyes wide open. Her girlfriend lets go a moment later and the pain stops, but her nipple is fucking throbbing now and she’s so, so damn aware of it.

Her girlfriend pinches her other nipple and Catra fists her hands in her shirt. Fuck, that hurts! But then the moment’s passed and her nipples are fucking on fire and that throbbing has settled in her groin and she’s pushing her hips forward looking for any friction at all and she’s let her jaw go slack and Adora’s just enjoying herself with her mouth and she’s moaning in the back of her throat and-

Adora pulls back. She gives Catra just enough space to stand on her own (and too much space for that fucking throbbing between her legs) and loosens her grip in Catra’s hair. She doesn’t let go though. She cradles Catra’s head, pulling their foreheads together. She meets Catra’s eyes from inches away and asks, “So? Bedroom?”

Yes. Fuck _yes_.

The look on her face must be something because Adora lets out a delighted laugh. “Alright, let’s get you on the bed you horny devil. C’mon.” Adora grabs Catra’s hand and pulls her to the bedroom, smiling and shooting glances back at Catra as they go. Catra smiles back and eagerly follows Adora. It’s not like this is the first time Adora’s been in control, Catra’s used to how domineering she can get. But she’s normally not the instigator and she _never_ moves this fast without Catra pushing her. Catra couldn’t be more excited to see what comes next.

As it turns out, what comes next is exactly what Adora said it would be. Making out in the bedroom.

Adora lays Catra out on the bed and crawls over her, glowing with an open-mouthed smile and clearly pleased as punch to have Catra at her mercy. Catra gladly obliges her, throwing her hands up behind her head and stretching out beneath her. She wiggles her hips and lets out a little mewl too, just for show.

Adora laughs and runs her hands up Catra’s arms, interlacing her fingers with Catra’s and shifting her weight to pin them down. She dips down to catch Catra’s lips, just a short kiss before she pulls back and looks Catra in the eyes again. “Hey, Catra. You know I love you, right?”

Catra laughs. “Of course I do dummy! Now c’mon, I was promised makeouts!”

A smile flickers over her girlfriend’s face and then Adora is back on top of her, making good on her promise. She slips her tongue inside Catra’s mouth all forceful and insistent and then she pulls back, teasing Catra into leaning up off the bed and following Adora up into the air. They linger in that position with Adora teasing and leading and demanding and Catra doing her best to sate her hunger on what Adora will give her. Catra tries to retreat a few times and draw Adora down to a level where she has more control but each time Adora refuses her, biting her lower lip and pulling her back into their kiss.

When Adora finally does let her go Catra is panting and riding the knife’s edge between languidly loose and wound up tight. Adora places a trail of soft kisses from her lips across her jaw to that place just beneath her ear where- _oohhhh_ . Adora nibbles and suckles and fucking _smiles_ against the side of her neck and it’s not fair. Catra twists and turns and that forces Adora to actually use her weight to keep Catra’s arms above her head and that right there, Adora’s weight pressing down on her and her teeth nipping at the muscle in her neck, it’s too much. She _whines_ , a high-pitched “nnnnnnnn” rising in the back of her throat, and then she _begs_ , “please, Adora please, cmooooonnnnnn-”

Her girlfriend adjusts her grip so she’s holding Catra’s wrists by her head, more securely than she was before. She settles her weight firmly on Catra’s pelvis so she can’t buck her hips, only squirm. Then she leans in close, nipping Catra’s ear. “What do you want?”

_“Bite me.”_

Adora moves her lips to the hollow of Catra’s neck, just above her collarbone where a tendon stands out taut and tight. And then she _bites_ . She sinks her teeth into soft flesh in Catra’s neck and when she pulls back she catches the tips of her teeth on the rigid line of that tendon and Catra just melts _._ So much sensation is radiating out from where Adora’s teeth are hooked into her. Her whole neck is tingling with it, she can barely think.

And Adora just keeps _going_ . She bites into the same spot again and sucks, harder and harder until Catra hisses and jerks, and then she does it _again!_ The hollow of Catra’s neck is a mass of forming bruises before Adora moves on to the junction of her shoulder. And then Adora sinks her teeth into the flesh there! Catra whines and twitches her hips feebly against Adora’s weight. Her eyes flutter shut and she floats on the too-much-too-rough feelings.

Time drifts around her. She’s not sure how long she spends beneath Adora getting her neck ravaged. But it feels _good_. She drifts on washes of pleasure and jerks every time Adora snags her skin between the tips of her teeth. Eventually she can’t even whine anymore, her moans disintegrating into pathetic mewls and whimpers.

Adora bites her one last time and draws a final convulsive jerk out of Catra before she pulls back. She lets go of Catra’s arms and rises up with a satisfied smirk on her face. “Have fun babe?”

Catra rises up after her, sitting up and letting her arms settle around her girlfriend’s torso. She nuzzles Adora’s neck blearily, parting her teeth just a hair so she can nip Adora back and start returning the favor. But Adora pulls away again, casually threading a hand through Catra’s hair and pulling her away. “Ah, ah, ah,” she admonishes. “I’m doing this for you tonight. You can dig into me tomorrow.”

Catra murmurs a bleary assent, not nearly put together enough to argue. She feels Adora shiver beneath her lips as she does, still reacting to Catra’s touch even if she’s taking charge.

Her girlfriend shakes the shivers off and gently pushes Catra back down on the bed. “Okay,” she says, “we need undress. I don’t know about you but I am way too hot and bothered to have all my clothes on.”

Catra fumbles frantically with the hem of her shirt while Adora starts slowly unbuttoning her own. Catra is naked in moments, desperately yanking her shirt over her head and bridging her hips to push Adora’s weight off her so she can skin off her jeans and panties in one motion.

Adora blinks down at her, fingers pausing on her fourth button. “... that was quick.”

Catra huffs out a delirious laugh. Of course it was quick. What does Adora think she’s been doing to her?   

Above her Adora pauses, biting the tip of her tongue and giving Catra a _look_.

That’s enough to clear some of the fuzz in Catra’s head and she immediately nips whatever thoughts Adora might be having in the bud. “Noooo, no no no. You don’t get to touch me like that and then tease me. Get your dang shirt off and touch me.”

Adora straight up laughs at that and does what Catra says. She unbuttons her shirt and shucks it and then reaches around behind her back to unhook her bra. She throws it off the bed and smiles down at Catra.

Catra takes in the sight of her girlfriend hovering over her half-naked and decides to just skip straight past waiting for Adora to finish undressing. She shoves a hand between them and uses the heel of her hand to _grind_ her dick against her stomach. Her eyes flutter and her hips buck. She does it again and meets Adora’s eyes as the friction makes her groan.

“Hey! Don’t get too far ahead of me,” Adora tells her playfully.

Catra rubs her the head of her slick penis, grinding glans back and forth across her skin. She plays up her moan and rolls her stomach as she does, giving Adora her best can’t-think-straight look. “Then get your pants -nnn- off.” She makes sure to gasp the last word.

That’s more than enough to kick her girlfriend’s ass into gear, and a few excited clumsy seconds later Adora is sitting on Catra’s pelvis, bare skin against skin. The heat burning from Adora’s crotch sinks into the skin just above Catra’s dick and Adora’s weight presses them together and- Catra hums and rolls her hips and she’s not playing anything up now.

Adora leans down, pressing their chests together, and the lack of any distance between them is everything. She lets a breath out and Catra can feel the eddies of it tickling her kiss-plumped lips. Adora tilts her head to lock lips with Catra and Catra slips effortlessly back into that blissed-out state where what she’s feeling is too large for her body. Adora’s tongue is in her mouth and her hands are drifting up Catra’s sides and Adora’s breasts are pressing into her and there’s so much heat between them.

It’s perfect.

Tingles follow Adora’s hands up her sides and then up her neck as Adora pulls back from their kiss and trails the backs of her nails across the soft, bruised skin under Catra’s chin. She follows her nails with kisses and then with her tongue sliding slick and wet over skin that’s too sensitive for any more bites (but Catra could take it anyway, she _could_ ). Adora’s tongue traces its way down to Catra’s collarbone and then she kisses the rest of the way to Catra’s breasts. She slides her hands under Catra’s back, pinning them between Catra’s weight and the bed, and she hovers just over her panting partner’s chest.

Adora’s eyes flick up to Catra’s face for a moment, taking her measure, and then she dips down to gently take a nipple in her mouth. Her lips make a slick circle on the skin of Catra’s breast and her tongue pushes against her nipple, giving Catra pressure and wetness and warmth. Adora takes her time, pushing her nipple back and forth, playing with it ways that don’t come with a zing of pleasure but have Catra purring and linking her arms at the small of Adora’s back nonetheless.

Adora switches breasts, pulling one hand out from under Catra to give her freed nipple a little tweak, something to put a hitch in Catra’s breath. Adora curls the hand still under Catra, scratching her back. Catra’s breath hitches again and that’s when Adora gives the first hint of teeth. She sucks on Catra’s nipple, mostly with her lips but also just barely gripping it in her teeth.

It’s good, but it’s also not quite enough. “More.”

Her girlfriend smiles around her nipple, and then her nails are dragging down Catra’s back and she _bites_ and the shock of it ripples through Catra’s bliss. Adora worries Catra’s nipple in her teeth and then she grabs her other nipple in her nails and _pulls_ and it’s exactly what Catra needed. She pants and thrusts her chest up and she _wants_ and Adora delivers. She bites and pinches and pulls and twists and Catra’s whole world is the spikes of pleasure coming from her breasts. There’s hurt in the moments when Adora bites too hard and ache in the moments when she’s not touching them at all, but through it all the too-much-too-rough pleasure washes through her.

It’s so much. She twitches with it and rolls and moans and whimpers, “yes, there, more, harder, _harder_ ,” and fuck does Adora deliver. Catra sinks her nails into the small of Adora’s back as it becomes actually too much, as the hurt starts to actually hurt, but she doesn’t tell Adora to stop. She bites her lip and bears it, pushing through and through and through despite the pain because it feels so good she doesn’t want it to stop.

Her breath shudders through trembling lips and she buries her hands in the sheets to desperately knead the bed and she whines through the pain but eventually she can’t bear any more. She gasps out, “Stop! Stop.” Adora lets go, pulling back with a lazy smile on her face while Catra gulps air.

Adora pushes off the bed. “Wait here,” she says. Catra trembles, the cold air in Adora’s absence highlighting just how much Catra’s nipples ache.

Adora’s only gone for a few moments when she comes back, kneeling on the edge of the bed. “Here,” she tells Catra, “we’re going to need these.” She dangles a pair of red silk ribbons in her hand.

Catra huffs. “We’ve,” she swallows, “definitely used those before.”

She gets a soft smile in return. “I promise you Catra, this will be new. Now c’mon, get up. I need to position you.”

Catra raises an eyebrow but does as Adora asks, sitting up on the edge of the bed. She hunches over a bit to protect her sensitive nipples from the air, and rests a palm over the pulse beating through her bruised neck. She focuses her vision as best she can.

There, at the foot of the bed, is a pad of folded towels laid out on the floor. Catra didn’t notice them coming in, but in her defense she was kind of preoccupied. Just beyond the towels is their closet door, a full-length mirror embedded in its frame. Catra turns to give her girlfriend a questioning look, wondering just where Adora’s going with this.

Adora grins. “You’re going to kneel on the towels, facing the mirror.”

Catra perks up. Oh? That’s a good start. She gets up on shaky legs and wobbles over to the towels, dropping down with a heavy thump on her knees. She sits up and places both hands at the small of her back, already guessing what her girlfriend wants to do with those ribbons.

She’s right. Adora bites the tip of her tongue and smiles. “Yeah, just like that.” She settles behind Catra, taking her wrists in her hands. “This isn’t going to be a bondage scene or anything, so no safeword. If you need me to let you out just tell me, okay?”

Catra nods, looking back over her shoulder to meet Adora’s eyes. “Okay.”

“Good.” Adora gives Catra a peck on the cheek and gets to work. She slips one of the silk ribbons around Catra’s wrists in broad flat loops, not binding her wrists in a knot so much as wrapping them in a support that takes the thought and strain out of holding her arms behind her back. Adora places settles her hands on the curve of Catra’s waist when she’s done, pressing up against her back. “Is that alright? Do you need me to adjust it?”

Catra shakes her head no.

“And when I do this?” Adora slides close, wrapping her arms around Catra’s torso and pressing her whole body flush against Catra’s back and pinning Catra’s wrists with her body. “Does that twist your arms in a bad way?”

Catra shivers pleasantly. “No. That’s-” she can feel the hard muscle of Adora’s abs under soft skin pressing against the underside of her arms and that should not be as hot as it is but it really _is_ , “-fine.”

“Mm,” Adora hums against her. “Good. Now, this next part is what I wanted to try tonight. You ready?”

Abso-fucking- _lutely_.

Adora picks up the other silk ribbon and dangles it in front of her. “Alright Catra. Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to blindfold you with this. Then I’m going to take this-” she picks up a marker from where it was hidden under the bed, “-and I’m going to write all kinds of stuff on you. About you. You’ll only get to see what I’ve written when I decide I’m done and I take off the blindfold.”

Oh. Catra can already think of all the kinky stuff that Adora could-

“And. Two more things. I’m going to play with you while I do. Partly because I want to keep you too occupied to guess what I’m writing until the blindfold comes off, but mostly because I just want to touch you.”

Catra smirks. Of course Adora wants touch her.

“Lastly though,” and Adora hesitates, “this is permanent marker. I have a washable one if you’d rather I use that but … I … I want to leave a mark on you. Something that you’ll wear under your clothes for the next few days. So that I’ll know, and you’ll know, what’s on your skin. So that you have to see it every time you take your clothes off.”

“Are you okay with that?”

Catra stares into the mirror. She’s already wrecked. She’s covered in bruises from shoulder to chin. Half-circles of angry red teeth marks dot her flesh. Anyone looking at her tomorrow will be able to see what Adora has done to her. Except they won’t see her nipples. Puffy and swollen and surrounded by mottled shadows of bruises. They won’t see all the other marks Adora is bound to leave on her before the night is done. And if Adora marks her up they won’t see that either.

Her girlfriend’s never been one for any kind of degradation play. Always says it makes her feel gross. But if she’s finally developed a taste for it ... Catra imagines **_SLUT_ ** written across her stomach in big bold letters. Knowing it’s there even as no one else does. Knowing that _Adora_ will know when she looks at her. Stripping down for bed and Adora staring at it and touching her and-

“Catra? Are you okay with that?”

“Yesssss.” Catra hisses out her answer. She’s so aroused it hurts. Her dick  _throbs_ and she fucking needs Adora to touch her. “Please.”

The last thing she sees is Adora licking her lips as her girlfriend slips the blindfold over her eyes.

There’s a moment of stillness. Then Adora’s fingers ghost across her mouth. Catra hungrily opens her mouth and they plunge inside. Adora doesn’t stick her fingers inside Catra’s mouth to be sucked on though. She explores Catra’s mouth instead, grabbing Catra’s tongue and running fingers over the roof of her mouth and the jagged edges of her teeth. It’s more possessive than it is erotic and Catra almost doesn’t know what to think about it.

When Adora leans down and mouths her neck though, scraping teeth across tender bites marks, she knows what she thinks about that. She thinks Adora is a goddamn _tease_ . She didn’t let herself get tied up and blindfolded at Adora’s mercy to be handled gently. She’s here to be _ravaged_.

Catra growls around the fingers invading her mouth and flexes her hands behind her back, catching the tips of her nails on Adora’s stomach. She tilts her head to give Adora better access and Adora finally does what she’s supposed to and bites down. She pulls her wet, messy fingers out of Catra’s mouth and slides them down the other side of Catra’s neck, and the sensitive bruised skin being slicked up and exposed to the open air is a perfect counterpoint to the moment when Adora really sinks her teeth in.

Catra might as well be blind whenever Adora has a go at her neck. Her eyes flutter and unfocus and she can’t pay attention to what she’s seeing anyway. It’s just blurs and colors and not being able to remember afterward if her eyes were open or not. But it’s different with an actual blindfold on. She’s _aware_ that she can’t see anything, not just blurrily disconnected from her vision. It makes everything else sharper, like that clear-cut awareness she can’t see is bleeding into her other senses too. She can feel each Adora’s teeth snagging the soft skin over her pulse point and she loves every moment of it.

Fingers pinch her nipples but they’re still too sensitive. She yelps and Adora backs off. A moment later Adora pulls back from her neck too, and then steps away. Catra is left alone with little shivers running through her body, panting. She’s got so much _need_ running through her. She wriggles when she feels Adora settle back down in front of her, parts her lips, tilts her head back, and thrusts out her chest so Adora can play with any part of her.

A hand buries itself in her hair and then Adora is pulling her forward and kissing her like she can’t get enough, with long sweeps of her tongue against Catra’s lips and inside her mouth. Catra’s lips tingle as she returns the kiss. It’s easy to get drunk kissing Adora, even more so when there’s nothing she can do but kiss Adora.

Then Adora whispers into her lips, “One moment, love,” and pulls back. She tightens her hold in Catra’s mane and pulls her head back. Catra gasps. There’s a **_pop_ ** of a marker cap being removed and then the wet-dry feeling of a marker on her skin. Adora scrawls something across Catra’s chest just above her breasts. “There,” she says with satisfaction, “perfect.”

Catra doesn’t even have time to react to that before Adora pulls her in and kisses her again.

And that’s how it goes. Occasionally Adora will touch her with the hand holding the marker, caressing her rear or tweaking her nipples. But mostly Adora just kisses her, keeping Catra drunk on her lips. She steals moments away to write on Catra’s stomach and her breasts, her sides and her arms, but she always brings Catra back to their kiss. She kisses her and writes on her and kisses her again.

It goes on and on and on. Catra’s jaw aches. Her tongue is tired. Her body is sore and her limbs are dead. When Adora finally stops Catra is exhausted, breathing as heavy as if she’d just finished a fight. She’s so exhausted almost doesn’t want Adora to touch the throbbing between her legs anymore. An orgasm at this point would take too much out of her.

Adora slumps against her, forehead to forehead and hands resting on Catra’s shoulders, just as worn out as her partner. This close Catra can feel Adora’s labored breathing. Eventually Adora speaks, “I- I’m going to take the blindfold off, okay? And, when you see what I wrote, tell me what you think. Okay?”

Catra nods. Yeah, she can do that.

Adora takes off her blindfold. Catra blinks away the light and opens her eyes. Catra still can’t see herself in the mirror, Adora is right in front of her. But she can see Adora’s soft blue eyes and her face reflected in them. She can see Adora’s lips, swollen by kissing. And she can see that gentle look on Adora’s face, the one Adora uses when she tells Catra ‘I love you’ as earnestly as she can, that Catra never knows how to respond to.

Adora places a kiss softly on her lips and smiles in a way that’s so soft it almost seems sad. Then, gently, she tells Catra, “I love you.”

Yeah. Just like that.

Catra swallows to clear her throat and tries out a laugh, voice raspy and tight. “Hey dummy, move your head. What’s the point of this if I can’t see what you wrote?”

When Adora moves it’s with that same gentleness, as if she didn’t just spend the last who-knows-how-long tearing Catra to pieces. She shifts behind Catra and lays against her back, pinning Catra’s hands between them again. She rests her hands on Catra’s shoulders and asks, “So, tell me what you think?”

**_Loved_ **

That’s the first word Catra sees, written big and bold across her chest just above her breasts, where the whole world could see it if she wore a low-cut top.

“Wha-” she doesn’t understand what she’s looking at for a moment. She turns her head as if to look back at Adora, but she can’t take her eyes off of what she see in the mirror.

**_Witty_ **

**_Gorgeous_ **

**_Strong_ **

Written across her left hip, on her right upper arm, and under her left breast are words she wasn’t expecting to see. There’s no bite to them. Not ‘slut’ or ‘bitch’ or ‘brat’ or ‘broken’, but ‘gorgeous’. And … ‘witty’. Catra was expecting Adora to put her in her place. She doesn’t know where this puts her.

Adora smiles nervously in the mirror. “I just-” she begins. She swallows and presses herself closer against Catra’s back, hunching her shoulders in. “I just thought- You brush it off when I tell you I love you, a lot of the time. Like, when you say it back I know you mean it. But sometimes I worry that you don’t let it mean something when I say it to you. So I wanted to give you this. As a reminder. That you really are loved.”

Catra hackles go up. “What?” she says sharply. She shakes herself, exhaustion falling off of her as she finds indignation. “You think I have some kind of problem? That I need you to tell me that I’m alright?”

There’s worry in Adora’s eyes now and Catra likes that better than her softness, than her _pity_. “What, no, I-”

Catra shoulders her girlfriend back. “Save it! I didn’t need this, now just-”

**_Cherished_ **

Catra spots it written under her left breast right over her heart and her voice catches, “-just, just …” She swallows and her throat doesn’t feel right. “Get this off me!” She jerks at the ribbon holding her wrists. “Let me go!” she shouts.  

Her girlfriend fumbles at it as fast as she can and a moment later Catra is free. She shoots up to her feet, lunging forward and leaving Adora sitting on the floor behind her.

“Catra…”

“You fucked up!” she repeats. “I- I-,” she firms her resolve without looking back, “I’m going to take a bath. Get to sleep, don’t wait up for me.” She doesn’t wait for Adora to respond. She strides straight out of their bedroom and into their bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Dammit! Why did Adora have to do that? Why did she have to turn that into some kind of fucking fake-ass pity party for her? Fuck, sure it would have been a little bit fake if Adora had written ‘slut’ all across her breasts, but at least she would have known that it meant Adora wanted to fuck her, which is actually true. Instead Adora had just written a whole bunch of crap she thought would make Catra ‘feel better’.

Catra stomps up to the bathroom mirror. What the fuck other bullshit did Adora put on her? What did she …?

 **_Sexy_ ** and **_Fierce_ **, on her thighs.

 ** _Hot Blooded_** on her stomach.

 **_Amazing_ ** on her right side.

And then there’s a set of black dots ringing her nipple made to look like bite marks. That’s not … that’s not …

That’s not bullshit. That’s not something Adora made up for some dumbass pity therapy. Which means the rest of it-

Catra’s mood crashes through the floor. She goes from buoyed up by frustration and anger to hollowed out and feeling every pound of her exhaustion in an instant.

The rest of it isn’t bullshit either. Adora just told her she loved her, wrote it on her skin, and Catra told her to fuck off. Like some kind of dick. Adora told her she was witty and strong and sexy and Catra _yelled at her_. She yelled at her!  

Catra slumps against the bathroom counter. Fuck. “Fuck, fuck, _fuck_ ,” Catra swears. “Dammit.” She takes a long look at what her girlfriend wrote on her. **_Loved_ **, right there on her chest. “I’m an asshole,” she mutters.

“But I’m the asshole who has to fix it.”

Catra staggers when she leaves the bathroom. Without angry adrenaline as fuel her legs are tired jelly. Emotional whiplash has drained whatever she had left after making out with Adora. But she keeps her footing and manages to stand straight when she re-enters their bedroom. Adora deserves an unflinching apology, not something whispered out behind cringes and stammers.

Except all that flies out of her head the moment she actually sees Adora. Her girlfriend is hunched against the foot of the bed and she’s _crying_. Instantly Catra races over and drops to her knees in front of Adora. Tears prick the corners of her own eyes. It’s hard not to cry when she sees Adora crying.

“Oh no, shhhh, no no no, Adora I’m sorry.” Catra cups Adora’s face in her hands and wipes at the tears with her thumbs. “I’m so sorry. You did nothing wrong. I fucked up, I’m an asshole Adora, I’m sorry.”

Adora hiccups and stammers out around sobs, “When you m- make your partner run- run off, and hurt them, I don’t- don’t think anyone can s- say that you did nothing wrong.”

Catra opens her mouth to respond, “That’s-” actually a very good point. Lovemaking doesn’t typically end with your partner running off unless you’ve really fucked up. But then again she- No. Catra shelves the whole train of thought. Adora is crying. That’s more important right now. Everything else can wait for the morning. “Adora,” she says firmly, “look at me.”

Adora does, and it just about breaks her heart to see Adora looking up at her while crying like that.

“We can talk about all that stuff in the morning. It can wait, and right now is a shit time to hash that stuff out. I-” Catra thinks about what she wants to say for a moment. “I’m wiped out. I’m gonna crash in like, a minute. But that’s alright. None of this has to be worked out right now. Because-” Catra takes a deep breath. This isn’t something she’s good at, it’s not something she knows how to do, so she just does her best impression of Adora’s soft expression and hopes for the best. “I love you Adora. And I know you love me. I _know_ you love me. A lot.” She takes a hand away from Adora’s face to gesture at the **_Loved_ ** written on her chest.

“And we’ve got to talk about this, I know that. I … didn’t react well. At all. I’ve got some … problems, that we should talk about. And we should also probably talk about how the way you tried to, uh, bring that up I guess, how it didn’t work. And why it didn’t work. And maybe we’ll decide it’s your fault or maybe it’s ‘cus of my stupid brain. Or both.”

She’s rambling now, but Adora isn’t sobbing anymore at least. She doesn’t know what that look on Adora’s face _is_ , but at least there aren’t any tears now. “Like, we’ve been through worse. I’ve … done worse. A lot worse. But somehow you still love me. A lot. Enough to do … this. Even though I’m the kind of dumbass who’d fuck it all up. And I love you because I’d have to be an idiot to let that go, no matter how dumb and upset I get. You know that, right?”

Adora gives a tired nod and slumps forward against Catra’s chest, resting her cheek on her partner’s breast. “I know,” she says quietly, “but … I told myself I was doing it for you. ‘n I was lying. I’m selfish. I didn’t want you to feel loved, I wanted to be able to make you feel loved. It wasn’t- I wasn’t really thinking about you. Not all the way. ‘m sorry.” She sniffles and Catra feels her swallow another sob.

Frankly Catra isn’t sure what that means. At all. But that’s what tomorrow is for. “Okay. Alright Adora.” She shifts her hand on Adora’s cheek so she’s holding Adora’s head against her chest. “We can talk about this in the morning, okay?”

Her girlfriend nods against her chest. “Okay.”

They sit there for long silent minutes.

 

\---

 

Catra wakes up with Adora leaning over her. “Oh. Hey. Morning Adora.”

“Hey.” Her girlfriend bends down and gives her a quick pick on the lips. There’s no morning breath there, so she must have been up at least long enough to brush her teeth. Adora gives Catra a moment to orient herself before asking, “We never ended up having dinner last night, so would you mind if we make breakfast before having that talk?”

“About…” Catra’s brain takes a moment to reboot, “-last night? Sure.” Catra yawns. “Just give me time to take a shower. You wanna start breakfast? I’ll catch up with you.”

Adora nods, a quick smile flashing across her face. “Sure.”

Catra is careful not to scrub her marks too hard in the shower. However they decide they feel about last night, that would be sending the wrong message. Although … that thought brings a smirk to her face. There is another message she could send.

Once she’s done with her shower she pads up behind her girlfriend in the kitchen. “Hey Adora.”

“Hey Catraaaaaa….” Adora turns around and trails off. “... why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

“‘Cus I’m considering getting nipple piercings and I want to get your opinion on how they’d look.”

Her girlfriend sputters out a cough. “What?”

“Well I mean, yes I am thinking about that. It’d be hot. But that’s not actually why I’m topless. Adora I’m loved,” she touches her chest, “and cherished,” she touches her heart, “by you. ‘n I want to show that off. ‘Cus I’m kind of selfish and I feel good about having a girlfriend who loves me so much. ‘Cus that’s a good place to start our talk about this whole mess. And,” Catra smirks and hooks her thumbs in her jeans, skinning them down just far enough to show off the marks on her thighs, “‘cus I’m fierce and sexy and I know it.”

Adora’s face softens into that gentle look. That loving look. “Hey, Catra. You know I love you, right?”

Catra smiles. Her voice cracks just a bit as she replies, “Yeah, I know.”

Adora reaches out and pulls her into a tight hug. “Good.”

“Hey Adora?”  
“Mm?”

“I love you too.”

 


End file.
